Cincinnati police have launched an investigation into the events surrounding the shooting of a gorilla at the zoo to see if the mother of the boy who fell into the exhibit will be charged with a crime.

Prosecutor Joseph Deters released a statement Tuesday, saying: "The incident at the Cincinnati Zoo involving the young child who fell into the gorilla enclosure is under investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department. Once their investigation is concluded, they will confer with our office on possible criminal charges. When the investigation and review are complete, we will update the media."

Some sites are completely dedicated to getting the mother charged. One site says it has over 350,000 supporters. Some of them wrote these comments:- “Sign the petition to hold idiotic ‘parents’ responsible.”- “Should have shot the mother. It would have been a better choice.”- One with a picture of Harambe said, “Not sure why they killed me. I was doing a better job of watching that lady’s kid than she was.”

“What we’ve seen is the classic blame and shame. People want to blame someone. They want to shame someone. And in this case, a lot of the attention has focused on the child’s parents, particularly the mother,” said Dr. Jeffrey Blevins, head of the University of Cincinnati’s journalism department and an expert in social media.

Another site is dedicated to supporting the mother of the child who got into the enclosure. One posting on that site said simply: “I hate monkeys.”

“Really, it tends to empower people to preach to their own choirs, to kind of shout at each other without any real engagement,” Blevins said. “The instantaneous part of the medium is there is no filter. That raw emotion goes out.”

The Cincinnati Police Department asks any witnesses to the incident to call 513-352-3542.